Anglican Mainstream discusses Church Appointments with Blair’s Representative

Anglican Mainstream expressed their thanks to the Prime Minister, Tony Blair recently for allowing them to visit 10 Downing Street to discuss fully issues the organisation had raised about recent Church appointments.

Anglican Mainstream (AM) is a community within the Anglican Communion aiming to teach and preserve the Scriptural truths on which the Anglican Church was founded.

AM was very glad to discover that the Prime Minister’s Appointments Secretary was well apprised of the Anglican Mainstream network of orthodox Anglicans in evangelical and Anglo-Catholic traditions, and had even visited the AM’s website.

The Prime Minister’s Representative outlined the procedure used for the appointment of Deans. After public consultations are carried out, a diocesan bishop has the real choice in the names selected for the final short list, and the Archbishop of the relevant province is made aware of likely names and has an opportunity to comment on the provisional list.

The Appointments Secretary reassured everyone that the recent leaks concerning forthcoming announcements did not emanate from within his office or elsewhere in 10 Downing Street.

AM raised concerns about the needs and interests of churches and individuals belonging to their constituencies within the Anglican Church. In particular, AM outlined their concerns that ethical teachings and practices which they firmly believed were contrary to the teaching of the Bible had implications for the structural integrity of the Church.

It was argued by AM that continued discussion was needed on:
- What was meant in practical terms by ‘living within the guidelines of the Church of England in matters of human sexuality’;
- The distinction in terms of leadership and teaching between the offices of Bishop and of Dean;
- The impact of certain recent appointments on the ministry of and among minority ethnic communities in the large conurbations.

The Prime Minister’s Appointments Secretary said that he would be open to further discussion on these points, should that be necessary, but these were primarily matters for the Church.

The group put forward the point that characterising the groupings in the church today as lying on a spectrum between Anglo-Catholic and Conservative Evangelical was inaccurate. Therefore the whole breadth of the church is not being covered in the present pattern of appointments.

To illustrate this they pointed to the concern at the fact that in the appointments announced in the 12 months prior to April 2004 no graduate of Ridley Hall, Trinity College Bristol or Oak Hill Theological College, had been preferred to the office of suffragan bishop, dean or archdeacon in the Church of England. Concerns were raised that such evident imbalance undermined confidence in the fairness of the process.

The Appointments Secretary noted accurately the concerns raised and agreed to reflect and relay these representations to the appropriate bodies and offices, including the Prime Minister and the Crown Nominations Commission.